because someone years ago-- 2005 or something-- asked me to participate in some philanthropic thing around africa to the except i would hold a kid's hand at the hospital and have a picture taken and i didn't want to be a-- and with the reading i read there is no tragedy like the one in congo where millions of people have died and it made a big impression on me. i thought if i don't know about this, i'm sure there are others as well. >> schieffer: you went there. you have been there a number of times. teal me about your organization. >> it's called the eastern congo initiative. the first year i learned about it i wante i want travel. i traveled to a lot of countries and focused on eastern congo ultimately, and we do kind of like a top-town, bottom-up. from the bottom up we do grant making to condolease organizations only, folks already in the area, already working and need the support of resources.

and i do a top-down advocacy, like being boog on your show and testifying before the house. >> schieffer: you reveal some absolutely stun stunning statistics in your testimony-- 900,000 people have been dislocated in the country since january. two out of three women in some areas have been raped. i mean, this might be of must be right now the worst place in the world. >> i would think so, yeah. it's certainly the place where the numbers look the worst. one in five children dies before age of five. you know, as i said, millions have died from war, preventable disease, and hunger. so, you know, when a place is in in this kind of crisis, and even a small uprise orgwar displaces a million people, you know, it's obviously in as bad a state as you can possibly and be it usually falls one, two, or three failed state index and it calls out, frankly, for our attention our commitment and that's what i'm trying to do. >> schieffer: what did you ask the congress to do? >> the main thing i asked the

congress to do is appoint a high-level, presidential level envoy, treasurer envoy, to the region. and that would involve basically somebody who really has the ear of the profit united states, and the authority that comes with that, to go to the region and deal with the regional actors who are a part of this conflict-- you gawnd arwanda, and to try to it convene and bring together western nations as well to look for solutions to some of these problems. we have a lot of 11ers that we can use diplomatically-- i'm not talking about boots on the ground, american tax dollars. i'm just talking about paying attention this and using the leverage of the moral authority of the united states to save lives. >> schieffer: that's happen? what would you like to see happen? >> i think the first thing that has to happen is there needs to be security in this country. right now, there is a u.n. peacekeeping force of about 17,000 soldiers that is complete

feckless. they really haven't done anything. their mandate is to protect civilians. they haven't done that. they need a leadership change and a mandate change and they need to be completely reevaluated. in a larger sense, this is a country that needs security sector reform. they have no real functioning army. the army as it exists preys on the population rather than defending. the army is responsible for 40% of the rapes in the country. there is no judicial system, no functioning police system. those are the things that need to be rehabilitated to begin with so you can create a space to develop a civil society. >> schieffer: you know, you are interested in a lot more than film. your new one is a good one. i want to ask you about that, but have you ever thought about running for public office yourself? the reason i say that, this week with mentions of john kerry being possibly the next secretary of state or at least

nominated for that, some people have actually written maybe ben affleck ought to run for that seat. >> well, for one thing, the state of massachusetts currently has two extraordinary senatores, so there's no-- there is no vacancy. >> schieffer: there might be, though. >> well, one never knows. i'm not one to get into conjecture. i do have a great fondness and admiration for the political process in this country, a big deal for me to come down here and be on your show that i've watch so much but i'm not going to get into speculation about my political future. i like to be involved. right now i'm really happy being involved from the outside in government, advocating for congo, taking the movie "argo" which has become a springboard for dialogue as our relationship with iran, as hillary which the said the most pressing foreign policy issue today. so i have a lot on my plate. >> schieffer: let's talk a little bit about this movie. i covered the washington end of that when it was all going on, and i must say, tbawfsz sort of overcome by events, later, greater events, but that is a

wonderful story. and it's pretty much true, the way you told it. i mean, it's pretty accurate as far as the history. >> yes, the story is true. the story is absolutely true. there were these six hostages who escaped the embassy during the takeover, who hid out in the canadian ambassador's residence, ultimately rescued by the c.i.a. and trained to pose as a movie crew. i looked at a lot of research footage and i lobbied at your face quite a bit-- you don't look a day older than you did from 32 years ago. it's really exceptional. it's it the inception of our antagonistic relationship with the rug of iran, and it put into events we're looking at now and downtown road and how we will navigate our relationship with iran. >> schieffer: where did you actually film it? >> we filmed it in turkey, actually. when we went to turkey i thought we would get a lot of farsi-speaking perks and virtually none of the iranians

would be in the country because they said if we appear in an american-made movie, the reprisals on our relatives will be terrible. i read the bars agency review of the movie. and they had that we did not, the in fact, make as much money as reported, but the studio bought $100 million worth of tickets and handed them out to people at random. i'm hoping the studio does that for my next movie, too. >> schieffer: i was going to say, do you think we could get them to do something for the ratings here, buy some tv sets or something. >> i loved it. >> schieffer: well, it is a fine movie. and-- >> thank you very very much. >> schieffer: how did you get on to it? >> you know, i-- i was sent the script ands i was a middle eastern study major in college and i had been look at developing a story about the overthrow of the prime minister in iran by the united states and great britain. it was a really compelling story, and then i got this other script about iran and immediately i was drawp to it because it focus on things i was

interesting in-- themes about storytelling, about the unintend consequences of revolution. in some way our relationship with the shaw is revealed to be similar to our relationship with mubarak. they appealed to our pro-western idea of what a leader should look like there and we overlooked the corruption, the croniness, the oppression underneath, and both were overthrown, and when both were overthrown the revolution revolutions that subsequently took place were not necessarily in our best interest. >> schieffer: ben affleck, a pleasure to have you, and good luck with the movie. when do you go back to the congo? >> in february, and you're welcome to come with me. >> schieffer: thank you. >> thanks very much. >> schieffer: and we'll be right back with the new senator from south carolina, tim scott. first we're gonna check our bags for free, thanks to our explorer card. then, the united club. my mother was so wrong about you.

next, we get priority boarding on our flight i booked with miles. all because of the card. and me. okay, what's the plan? plan? mm-hmm. we're on vacation. there is no plan. really? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. the mileage card with special perks on united. get it and you're in. >> schieffer: he will be just the seventh african american senator ever. the first african american senator from the south since reconstruction. considerations, congressman. >> thank you. >> schieffer: welcome to "face the nation." i take it you are intending to run for this senate seat in 2014. >> 2014 we'll be back on the ballot, yes sir. >> schieffer: how long have you been in the congress gijust got elected to my second term, have been in public office for

18 years serving the good people throughout south carolina. >> schieffer: let me ask you first about the whole business with the national rifle association. their idea seems basically to be just add armed security to all of our nations' schools. do you think that's feasible or is it a good idea? >> the president has just established a committee to take a serious, holistic look at what we need to do as a nation to make sure that our kids are safe. to rush to judgment, i think, is a bit premature on what we should do. i think after we have the commit's report, we should take a very serious look at whatever it takes to keep our kids safe at school. we don't know what that is yet. we're just finishing the week of so many funerals, we should-- we should continue to pray for the family members. >> schieffer: but would you be in favor of changing some laws, like, for example, banning these assault weapons? >> i would love to see what comes out of the committee.

i think with vice president biden putting together a holistic approach to the challenges we face as a nation, looking at the opportunity we have to seriously address all the issues from mental illness to other issues, understanding what happened and why. after we have those answers we'll be in a much better position to decide the path forward. >> schieffer: let's talk a little bit about the fiscal cliff. you know, the speaker took a deal to the president, and then took it to his own caucus, and he didn't have the votes. he couldn't deliver the votes to guarantee his own proposal. what happens now? >> well, i think it's important for us to note that the house has acted already. the house, we've passed sequestration on four occasion. we've extend all the tax cuts and now we wait for a response from the other side. we stand prepared to be here in washington whenever the president or the senate has a proposal that we can take and act on. >> schieffer: but, you know,

congressman, i mean, with all respect, it seems like both sides are saying, "well, we're waiting for them. we're waiting for this. we're waiting for that." the fact is nothing ever gets done. is this actually going to stand in do you thing congress, democrats, republicans, senate and the house, will let us go over this so-called fiscal cliff? >> that's a really good question. it's one of the reasons i'm pretty excited about the fact we already acted. we acted several months ago to extend the tax cuts for all americans. we don't have to go over the cliff. there is a piece of legislation that has passed house, which is good-- >> schieffer: well, craig shirley, who is a republican operative tauthor, observer, was quoted as saying if we were in a parliamentary system, what happened to speaker boehner would have been viewed as a vote of no confidence. do you think speaker boehner ought to step aside and let somebody else try to get this done? >> speaker boehner will be the speaker next year, without any question. the onus right now is on senator

reid and the president to come up with a solution, make it a piece of legislation, pass it through the senate, present it to the house, and let's get back to the bargaining table. the american people deserve for both houses to do something and ask the president to sign it. >> schieffer: well, are you saying that the house, speaker boehner, should take no responsibility for this impasse that we've come to? isn't some of the onus on him? >> i would say without any question, all year long, we've seen from the leadership in the house, at least a clear line of what we're willing to do. what we haven't seen come out of the senate yet is a single piece of legislation that addresses the crisis. >> schieffer: you know, it's looking like a pretty active political season coming up down there in your home state of south carolina. you're going to have two senate seats open. and now we're hearing that governor-- former governor mark sanford, who left the governorship under a cloud, may actually come back and run for

his old congressional seat. what do you hear about that? >> my understanding is that we may have 25 or 30 candidates running for that first congressional district seat. the interesting thing is when you have a special election, people can get involved and have an opportunity to make their case. this is going to be a very active primary. i think it starts some time in late march or early april, the citizens of the first district will have an opportunity to have their voice heard through their vote, and then two weeks later, there will, obviously, be a runoff because with that many candidates, we'll have a lot to say grace over. >> schieffer: all right, well, congressman, congratulations on your appointment. >> thank you very much. >> schieffer: we hope we'll see you from time to time to "face the nation." >> thank you, bob. >> schieffer: we'll be back in one minute. ,,,,,, ,,,,,,

>> schieffer: and back now with our political roundtable. mike allen, the chief white house correspondent for politico. margaret brennan, our state department correspondent. and our chief white house correspondent, major garrett. so, gentlemen, isn't it a shame

we don't have anything really to talk about? nothing much-- >> what a slow news week. >> schieffer: yeah, slow news week here as we head into christmas. mike, i have to ask you, what about this ben affleck for the senate? do you think he might do that? >> i don't upon i think there's a reason senator al franken is one of the few celebrities that actually get into congress but your conversation with him made it clear someone else who wanted to be talked about is ted kennedy jr. cthe senator's son, who we are told will announce today or tomorrow whether or not he'll go for senator kerr's seat. >> schieffer: do you think if he doesn't decide to seek that senate seat, do you think he'll try for something else? >> i think so bob. it's a little awkward for him. he lives in connecticut. he summers at hyannis port, actually in president kennedy's old house. we're told it's not a matter of whether he'll run but where. people who saw him at the democratic convention and were struck by how much he was his

father's son, the booming voice, the passion for health care. so if he doesn't go for this senate seat we think he'll run for something in connecticut down the road. >> schieffer: i think basically on affleck, i don't think he'll probably run in the end but i think what he was doing was letting people know he's not shutting the door to the idea. i think the next step he'll look out the window, see if he sees the ground swell out there, and if he does, he might do it. >> there's a practical side to all this as well. he knows he's advocating for certain things, and one of the ways to keep his name visible and the advocacy he's pushing is to talk in two different level use hollywood advocacy and possible political candidate. he's trying to, i think, leverage both to maintain attention to what he can on the cause he's working on. >> schieffer: this thing in south carolina, where you have the former governor, mark sanford, he of the argentinean walk-- or whatever it was. i guess his former wife has

decided she's not going to run. we'll have a lot of politics to cover next year. no question about that. margaret, let me ask you, what is the latest news on benghazi? we had this report out. you had two officials from state department come before the congress. meanwhile, secretary of state clinton remains out of sight recovering from this concushion that she apparently suffered when she fell down because she was diof dehydrated from the stomach virus or something. do we have any more details on how that happened or-- where did she hit her head? do we know? >> or when? >> when? well, it was last saturday that they decided that she-- this concussion was serious enough for her to warrant staying at home. but we don't believe it happened that day in particular. but the timing is, obviously, critical in terms of what you're talking about with benghazi because she was supposed to testify this past week. she's since indicated she's willing to do something, perhaps, in january with the senate foreign relations and

house foreign affairs to answer some of the questions. but in the meantime, this report has come out, ben harshly critical of the state department, and the place is really sort of reeling. i mean, you have the top three security fors within diplomatic security forced out the door. and you've got a heck of a job lined up if senator kerry does become the next secretary of state, for him to appoint manager managers who can overhaul security and intelligence at this place. >> schieffer: in all serious, do we have any information on this concussion? when it snapped how serious it was? it's just like-- it's just a cone of silence has descend over-- >> her spokesperson has released statements on behalf the doctors who have treated her at george washington university hospital and others. basically, verifying what they have passed on, which is severe dehydration after that whirlwind trip through europe. i was along with her on that. and it was quite a hectic scheduled. after that, the stomach bug,

which others had, also, on the trip. overcame her, and she suffered this concussion. it's not clear when she's capitocoming back. >> margaret, even people in the billion don't know. even people at the top levels of that department are also getting their news from the statements, know very little about what she's doing, how she's doing. and what a twist for her. this amazing run, unquestioned praisefor four years, and all of a sudden this bad report, sort of weird absence, politico today reporting that chelsea clinton troops in take a higher role in the next months. she's been doing some charity work through the clinton foundation sandy recovery. > recovery. >> schieffer: what is she going to do? is she going to run for something, too? >> a lot of democrats hoped she would run fair congressional seat. we're told that's not the case. but she'll be out there sort of as the clinton face, as--

>> this lack of disclosure i think is trouble responsible i really do think there should be more information, more data, more disclosure about what happened and when it happened and some ability to question those who are treating her. she's a very important government official-- >> she's a clinton. >> from her own perspective if she has a political future, i think this ends her reign-- to pick up mike's point-- in an uncomfortable way. there's a lack of disclosure i think the public looks at and it raises unnecessary questions. >> that isn't to say-- we do get some readouts on our schedule purpose we were told she was placing calls responding to the north korean firing. she's montort syrian crisis. >> schieffer: as far as we know she's working from home. >> she is working from home, and not keeping a public schedule. >> schieffer: i have to ask, major, to bring us up to speed on the fiscal cliff and what happens now? >> there are no conservation going on, nothing has happened over weekend. someone senior in the senatorial

leadership used a reference to "the princess bride." this thing is mostly dead. it will take a miracle to revive it. i think even the prospectave small deal grows less and less possible as we come back next week. >> schieffer: well, mark warner just said he thinks there will be a smaller deal. what is he talking about? >> what is a small deal? what can get 60 votes in the senate and what can pass the house? even if you just do something agreeable on tax rates, you have to nut an estate tax an alternative minimum tax. there's the whole medicare doc things that has to be texed there. ever single things that its own internal complications for voting and passage, on the smallest, most minimal measure. no one is talking this weekend so you can't do anything unless you're talking. >> even the polls show the republicans are going to take had more blame if we go over the cliff, and around here they're saying merry cliffness.

there is no reason for congress to come back this week. but this creates a real problem for the president. one, if we go over the cliff, the white house is truly concerned about what the unknown effects will be on the economy, on the stock market, but here's an even bigger thing it's president hoped to get some things done in january. in his first 100 days. he hoped to do no now firearm controls, it immigration. and now whatever hopes for big tax reform are derailed. >> schieffer: when is the new congress sworn? i know for the president it's january 20. they come in on the third, right? >> yes. republicans now look at the expose say it's probably not going to get much worse for us, but it could get worse for the president, so let's go off the cliff and see him take some of the blame because it will be apportioned differently after we go over because he in fact-- >> schieffer: you really think they would allow this to

happen? >> absolutely. they expect it to happen. >> i didn't a week ago. i thought a week ago, this was coming together and all the conservation were specific and moving in a direction. and then it stopped, and it hasn't had one ounce of life sense about tuesday. >> and for wall street, the perception is almost more important than the reality that you're talking about here. i mean, some sources on the street say exactly that. when you look to be dysfunctional to the world, that's what's going to matter. and you're going to see that reflected when we come back to an open market after the holiday. >> schieffer: well othat happy note, i have to thank you tall, wish you the best of season. >> merry christmas. >> schieffer: we'll be back in a moment. ,,,,,,,,

>> schieffer: well, that is it for tawd. but before we go, we want to say good-bye to an old friend, the very last issue of "newsweek" magazine. this is the last cover.

it will hit the stands tomorrow after close to 80 years in print publication. it will still be around, but it will be online. it was a big part of my life for a long time. well, from all of us here at "face the nation," we want to wish you happy holidays and merry christmas. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ,,,,,,,,,,

water with asphalt meant lof bent metal on bay area highways. as you know rain hit the bay area with a vengeance today. mixing the water with the s is asfault. getting home for the holidays has proven to be tough. we will have an update. good evening, everybody: let's get straight to the video. we are keeping an eye on the storm that